Escaping his wrath
by Louisa taylor
Summary: A short story about Domestic Violence and Coercive Control. Warning: This story contains triggers. I welcome ideas and true stories from victims of this horrible crime. Both men and women, please feel free to contact me and share your experience. This is a little talked about crime and needs more people to talk and be open about. We need to shine a light on this, please message me.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Coming Home

Hermione drove back to her parent's house in Hampstead from Heathrow and was relieved to find it empty without Ronald there, demanding answers about where she had been and why she went to Australia in the first place. Hermione had been married to Ronald for 12 years and had spent most of her marriage and her life cleaning up after him, cooking for him, looking after him, mothering him and catering to his ever-lasting temper tantrum and ever-lasting whim, walking on eggshells until one day she just cracked up and fled to her best friend/brother Harry and confessed she could not take any more physical/emotional abuse or economic abuse from the man who was supposed to support her, her husband.

* _Flashback* "Hermione!" Harry found Hermione sitting on his front door step with her head rested on her knees in the pouring hard rain. He gently led her into his house "I can't do it, anymore, Harry, I feel broken…" Hermione sobbed as Harry rubbed her back. "Are Rosalie and Hugo at school?" Harry asked her seriously. She nodded but could not stop her hands from shaking and Harry tenderly rubbed soothing circles on her back "Hermione" Harry said "Look at me, that's it, cup your hands and put them over your mouth, now breathe deeply." Hermione followed these instructions and took ten deep breaths as Harry looked onwards._

 _As Hermione calmed, Harry got her a steaming cup of herbal green tea with lemon and place the warm cup in her hands. "Now, I want you to start from the beginning, how long has Ronald been like this"_

Hermione smiled as she sat down on her sofa in her house and listened to the silence as she reflected. She shouted at the empty room. "No more, Ronald, I will reclaim my life!"

* _Flashback* "Of course I would find you here, you whore!" Harry was astonished by Ronald's language "She is your wife, Ronald! how long have you been abusing her?"_

" _Of course, you would take her side, you bastard!" Harry shook his head at the pitiful person that was once his brother in arms. "I will take the kids away from you if you ever leave me again!" Ronald Weasley screamed in Hermione's face. She was huddled in the corner shaking in fear. "I will only tell you once, Ronald Weasley, leave my home immediately and if you ever threaten Hermione again or my godchildren, I will make sure that you spend the rest of your natural life in Azkaban!" Harry growled with his wand out._

Hermione made herself a cup of her favourite herbal tea and settled down to write her next chapter. This was what had started Ronald's resentment of her. Hermione was the manager/counsellor at a Woman's refuge in the muggle world when she had married Ronald. He was so sweet and loving and kind when they first married. A few weeks after they had married, she noticed that she had less and less housekeeping or bill money from their joint account. Gadgets that they didn't require for the joy of living or items would suddenly show up in their home that Hermione had no knowledge of buying like a play-station or a new flat-screen television. Then Ronald would take three-quarters of Hermione's wage and spend it in the wizarding bookies, gambling away her hard-earned money on the outcome of the quidditch world cup or the national league of quidditch. Worse still, Ronald demanded that she gave up her job in the refuge to look after their children. They argued all night until Ron lost his rag and punched Hermione so hard, it rendered her unconscious. When she woke up, she was in bed and Ronald was weeping with sorrow and regret. _"I am so, so sorry, I don't know what happened, I just felt the red mist descend and that was it, I couldn't stop myself, I promise you, that it will never happen again."_ Hermione nodded and just said softly " _I forgive you, I don't want to argue, I love you, Ronald"_ Ronald never changed though. Every week, Hermione was hiding bruises with a clever glamour charm, so her colleagues would not spot her many injuries. Her magic had managed to heal the broken ribs under the sacred wiccan magic she possessed and when Harry saw her, he could see the many glamour's that she used. He and Luna pulled her aside one day and gently coaxed the truth from her. They were horrified when she took away the glamor, but she made them swear on their magic to not tell a soul. So, they did, they kept her secrets and patched her up with potions and their healing skills every-time she showed up. For sixteen years, Hermione's best friends kept her awful secret. But the psychological abuse that Ronald inflicted turned out to be the worse thing, designed to crush Hermione's self-esteem. She ran and ran hard on her bare feet until she came to Harry's house in the next town. There, she broke down sobbing and then the rain started as she huddled under the sheltered door-step and waited for Harry or Luna.


	2. Chapter 2

Statistics/Facts about coercive/abusive relationships

80% out of 100% women are victims of domestic abuse.

20% out of 100% men are victims of domestic abuse.

2 Women are murdered every week by a former partner or a current partner.

One child is murdered every ten days by a parent or step-parent. (Father)

One man every 30 days is murdered by a partner or former partner.

Every 10 days a child is murdered by their mother or step-mother.

Every day, the crime of economic abuse is reported to the police.

Every day, a child rings up the NSPCC helpline begging for protection from abuse.

2 out of 5 children are murdered by their parent/guardian to get back at their former partner for daring to break up the family because of coercive control/physical violence.

Every day, a woman fleeing to a refuge is tracked down after a week, 2 weeks and dragged back to their hellish lives.

These are the facts, Ladies & Gentleman, if we don't get this out in the open and talk openly, we will fail those victims and ensure they remain victims by enabling the abusers to carry on their disgusting behaviour.

I do not hate Ron Weasley or any of the Weasley's. But I could not use my real name or my ex-partner's real name and identity because of safety reasons. This happened to me, emotional abuse more than physical, economic abuse, manipulation, but it fucks with one's head so much that always you end up wishing yourself dead. That is the truth. It leaves deep scars on the Psyche and you never recover fully from that experience. It makes you so bitter and dis-trusting but time does heal the hurt in the end. A few years will have gone by and you will find yourself smiling in the sunshine. It will happen for you. I promise.

All my love Louisa xxx


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note and answers

I am asking genuine survivors of coercive control/domestic abuse to share their stories with me, so I can start a campaign of awareness in schools. The truth is that if you educate both girls and boys about coercive control or domestic abuse and the pattern, where it starts. That is a load of stereo-typical bull-spit about the abused becoming abusers. I was sexually abused at the age of nine, the age of 18 and I was drugged and raped at the age of 19. I certainly did not become an abuser. In fact, I protected my children from paedophiles by telling them about stranger danger. I am a survivor, not a victim.

I don't hate men as I remarried a lovely man, two years after I got my divorce to my ex-husband finalised. My children are grown up now, but I am more distrusting of a person's motives and that way I can protect myself and my children from being hurt. It has kind of developed into a sixth sense. I can sense when I can trust and when I shouldn't blindly trust people in general. In other words, I can now spot the liars and the honest people.

If someone tried to tell me "It is for my own good" that I do as they say, I can clearly see that they are trying to manipulate me into their way of thinking and that is where the coercive control starts. It is subtle at first and then it builds into something more sinister.

The pattern of coercive control/Abuse

Grooming and preparation (Laying the foundations) Showering you with gifts and compliments

Isolating you from your family and friends

Interrogation whilst you are at work or college.

Emotional/Psychological abuse i.e name calling, demeaning, blackmail, taking revealing pictures, making video's, revenge porn. Threats to harm you, themselves or your children, threats to take the children from your custody. Kidnapping your children

Making you feel small, humiliation, insulting you in front of friends or family. Demeaning your value in front of your children. Calling you names in front of your children, intimidating you and threats to reveal adultery.

Limiting your time and timing you when you go shopping

Interrogating you when you go out with friends or family

Preventing you from working, locking you in the house or flat, sabotaging your conscious effort to get into work, threats of suicide if you dare to be independent.

Economic abuse – Asking to and looking at your bank statements, monitoring every purchase, taking your bank card without consent, withholding your debit/credit card. Refusing to give you money to buy food and groceries. Making you beg for access to your own money or bank account. Forcing you to hand over your wages. Putting bills in your name with out talking to you first. Abusers will often refuse to find employment for themselves but refuse to let you work or find employment for yourself.

Not letting you out of their sights. Suffocation in the relationship.

Forcing you to take part in threesomes or more and blackmailing you after the fact. (Sexual Exploitation)

Slaps, kicks, spitting, clenched fists in face, pushing, shoving, backing you into a corner, destroying your personal belongings. Standing over you, pointing at you and treating you like a naughty child i.e wagging their finger at you. Forbidding you from walking away from an argument, restricting physical movements or grabbing you roughly, manhandling you. Poisoning or drugging to subdue you or tomake you more pliable to demands.

Rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, groping you while you are under the influence of sleeping medication and are unable to give your consent

Stalking you, terrorising you, threats to murder or maim. "If I can't have you, no one can!"

Finally, they may even go as far as to commit murder.

If you feel your life is in danger or you have had threats to end your life and your children's life. Please remember to keep a note of everything you have in your memory in a journal, incidents that scared you, injuries, threats, sexual abuse, intimidation, stalking.

Keep a bag of spare clothing for yourself and your children, toys and games for your children, important documentation like e.g passports for you and your children. Any spare money you can squirrel away if you have been able to work. Keep it hidden like with a trustworthy friend or a family member you can trust. Keep all your solicitor's documents, important phone numbers like refuge, women's aid, rape crisis, Samaritans, your local social services number. Any local housing trust, the emergency housing trust, your therapist's number in case you feel low in mood and need a boost to keep you going. If you need to, try and take back your bank card in secret but for the safety of you and your children, please dial 999 as you may not have to leave your home.

Leaflets about benefits you maybe entitled to whilst you are at a refuge or safe-house.

The number for the child protection agency and safeguarding agencies in your local area.

Foodbanks

Advocacy services.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 2

Bad Memories

* _Flashback*_

" _I asked you where you had been, you, lazy useless mud-blood bitch!" Ron towered over Hermione like an ominous volcano about to explode. "I went to my volunteer job at the refuge, they need me, you don't, all you needed or wanted was someone to replace your mother and to take over the cooking and cleaning for you!" Hermione yelled back and pulled her wand on Ronald "You will never ever call me that name again!" Her hair crackled along with her wild magic._

" _Crucio!" Ron yelled/intoned, and Hermione fell over shaking with agony, but not before she sent out her own stunner towards her "loving" husband with and it sent Ron sprawling to the floor and it knocked him unconscious. Hermione stood over him "That is the last time, that you will ever control me, or hurt me, or take my money!" Hermione ran out the door with no shoes and ran to Harry's and Luna's_

 _*End Flashback*_

Hermione had woken up screaming from that nightmare, but as she went through it in her mind, recalling the awful moment he had Crucio-ed her, it had somehow had strengthened her resolve to never, ever, be a victim again! She swore to the Goddess of Wisdom to become stronger

Her cordless phone rang shrilly as she wiped her eyes free from grit, it was Ronald! 'Why isn't he rotting away in Azkaban?'

"What do you want!" Hermione hissed down the receiver "Please, Hermione, I've changed, they sent me to a group therapist for anger management, Please, I am homeless."

"You haven't changed at all, have you, Ronald weasley? Go home to mummy, Ronald, she can fawn and fuss over her ickel Ronnie-kins, as much as she likes. I'm done! Do you hear me, done!"

"I'm going to get you, Hermione, watch your back!"

"Why, are you going to put a knife in it, you wife-beating, abusive, prejudiced bastard?" Hermione slammed the phone down trembling with anger. It rang again several times until Hermione pulled the plug out of the phoneline.

====Line break====

"I wish that I had never married the foul git, Luna, now he's got my past and my future" Hermione put her head on the table

"He hasn't got your future at all, Hermione, that is your destiny and your path, not his, are you glad that you took the contraceptive potion after Rose and Hugo came along?"

"Of course, Luna, you were a godsend to me at the ministry. I took them at work and Ronald assumed I was going through the change of life." Their coffee cups suddenly exploded on the coffee table outside the small muggle café.

"Hello, Loony, consorting with my wife to do me over, are you?" Ron pointed his wand at Luna "This is a muggle area in London, what about the Statute of Secrecy, you idiot!" Hermione ground out, but she sat still.

"Oh, the Statute of Secrecy, hmmm, I find myself not caring about it, with any hope they will blame you and you will beg me to get you out of prison and you will welcome me back to our home with open arms, if you don't, Hermione, then I will take the kids from you, and you won't see them unless I say!"

Ron snarled as he pointed his wand under Luna's chin onto her throat. "It's funny, you never stopped being the know-it-all, did you? You and Harry always thought that you were better than me or too good for me."

"You have a loving family, Ron, Harry had the abuse of the Dursley's to contend with! Then you abused me in our 16 years of marriage because you thought it was your right to push me around like the big man, I won't let you use the children to hurt me or hurt Luna here, who patched me up for 16 years plus. Do you remember what happened 6 months after we married in that wonderful handfasting ceremony? I do, to this day, I remember" Ronald paled "You smashed a cup of hot coffee in my face, and you burnt the side of my face, because I wouldn't hand over my wages for you to gamble at the wizards betting shop in Diagon Alley. Blood was pouring down my face from the cut in my head. Luna took pictures of my injuries and we started to collect evidence. Diaries, events, recordings in the pensieve. You deserve at least 20 years in Azkaban!" Ronald started backing away, but Luna caught his wrist in an Aikido restraining move worthy of any Dojo in Japan, Luna threw the red-headed prat into the glass windscreen of the parked on the pavement and the owner of the café rushed out. He had designer stubble and he looked like he was going to be apoplectic. "That was my car!" he yelled. Hermione had to think quick and used the confundus charm on the owner of the car. "We are so sorry, here is my ID, do you have insurance?" Hermione asked sweetly. The owner of the smashed car looked considerably calm "Who was the idiot, holding your friend hostage?"

"My ex-husband who's been stalking me for the past year"

"Sounds like a real charmer, I will tell my insurance company that you aren't at fault, can they contact you on a mobile or landline?"

"Sure, no problem, here's my landline? I'll be happy to explain what happened"

Luna gave the gentleman "her" number as Hermione kept giving backward glances to the gentleman and her cheeks were tinged pink.

"And thanks for being understanding, sir. Let's go, Hermione" Luna growled

A/N What do you think, a new romantic interest for Hermione, but she still has more heartache to come from Ron Weasley?


End file.
